Draft-gear for railway-cars



W. H. MINER. DRAFT GEAR FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 21, 1 917. RENEWED AUG- 30, 1920.

P Kw" Y N B W. H.. MINER.

DRAF'T GEAR FOR RAILWAY CARS. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 2|. 1912. RENEWED AUG. 30. 1920:

Patented Nov. 2, 1920.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2- JNVENTOR.

WILLIAM H. MINER, OF CHAZY, NEVT YOFJ K.

DRAFT-GEAR FOB, RAILWAY-CARS.

Application filed March 21, 1917, Serial No. 156,475.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that l, lVILLiAM fil /111M512, a citizen of the United States, residin at Chazy, in the county of Clinton and btate of New York, have invented a certain new and useful improvement in Draft-Gears for ltailwayflars, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in draft gears for railway ears.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a simple and eilicient, direct acting, compound, differential, tandem spring and friction draft gear. Other objects will appear from the description of my invention herein following.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure l is a side elevation, partly in vertical longitudinal section, of a draft gear embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken on line 22 of Fig. 1. in Figs. 1 and 2 the draft gear is shown in its normal position. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section showing the position of the parts when in full buff. Fig. 4. is a cross section taken on line d4 of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the friction wedges. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one of the friction shoes.

Referring to the drawings, the numerals 10-10 indicate draft sills or members of the car frame to which the draft rigging is applied. faces of thes sills, and secured thereto preferably by the rivets 1l-ll, are the sto members 12, providing the front stop shou ders 13- 13 against which the front follower 14 is arranged to engage, and with the rear stop shoulders 15-45 against which the rear follower it} is adapted to engage. They are also provided with front and rear intermediate stop shoulders 17 and 18, respecti\"ely, between whichthe friction shell 19 is mounted. The friction shell 19 may ex ternally be of any suitable shape, the particular form illustrated in the drawings being provided with the front and rear wings 20 and 21. respectively, the same being employed in conjunction with the intermedi ate stop shoulders to maintain the shell in a stationary position between the draft members of the car. The shell 19 has a hollow interior 20 that may be of any suitable cross Specification of Letters Patent.

ll lounted upon the inner Patented Nov. 2, lg fl.

Renewed August 30, 1320. Serial No. 405C061.

section, that illustrated in the drawings being rectangular and is provided with friction faces which, for convenience, we denominate the front internal'friction face 22 and the rear internal friction face 23. Friction elements 25% are mounted within the shell, the same being arranged in front and rearsets 25 and 26, respectively. Each set of friction elements comprises a wedge and shoes, the front wedge being indicated at 27, and the rear wedge at 28. The fiction shoes of the front set are shown at 29-29, and those of the rear set at 3030. Both of said friction faces 22 and 23 internally pro-- videdin the shell are tapered from their outer ends toward the center of the shell. in the form of my invention illustrated in the drawings the front internal friction face 22 is slightly tapered, as clearly shown in Figs. Q'and 3, and the rear internal friction face 23 is tapered slightly more than is the front friction face, as is also illustrated in the said figures of the drawings. Each of the wedges 27 and 28 is provided with the wedging faces 31-31 which are in wedging engagement with the wedging faces 32-32 provided, respectively, upon the adjacent friction shoes.

adjacent internal friction face of the shell. The front wedge 27 is provided with a stem which in normal position of theparts is spaced away from the boss 35 upon the front follower 1st. The springs 36 are mounted between the front wedge 27 and the front follower 14, and in their normal position maintain the space, as indicated at the numeral 37 in 2 of the drawings, between the boss 85 and the wedge stem 3%. The rear wedge 28 is provided with a stem 38 which in normal position of the gear is spaced apart from the boss 39 with which the rear follower 16 is provided. The space, as indicated by the numeral 40 in Fig. 2 of the drawings, between the said boss 39 and the rear wedge stem 38 is slightly greater than the space between the front wedgestem 34c and the boss 35. Mounted between the rear follower 16 andthe rear wedge 28 are the rear springs 42. l

in describing the friction shoes as arranged in a front set 29 andrea'r set 30, I

do not intend to convey the impression that the said sets are of necessity separate, as op posed shoes of the front and rear sets may he made integral, if so desired. f

mach friction shoe has an external friction face 33 which en a es the,

The friction shell 19 is held against downward displacement by the carry-plate 43 which is detachably secured to the draft members by suitable means, as, for instance, the bolts 44 44.

A yoke 45 surrounds the draft gear structure and provides an operative connection between it and the draw-bar 46, to which it is appropriately secured, as, for instance, by the rivets 47.

It will be observed that the draft gear may be easily mounted between, or dismounted from the sills, as the removable carry-plate supports the entire structure, including the yoke, the yoke in turn supporting the followers.

In order to further explain my invention, I will now describe its operation first in resisting shocks occasioned by the rearward movement of the draw-bar, or bufiing movement, as it is commonly called. On such movement the front follower 14 is forced rearwardly against the resistance of the front springs 36, which are held at their rear by the friction elements, andthe rear spring 42, which is seated against the rear follower 16, said rear follower being held by the rear stop shoulders 15-15. elements exert their full resisting action, the boss upon the front follower 14 will engage the stem 34 with which the front wedge is provided, thus forming a solid column from the draw-bar to the front wedge 27, which moves rearwardly, spreading the friction shoes 29 and forcing them into frictional engagement with the front internal friction face 22 of the friction shell 19. The front wedge 27 in the illustration of my invention shown in the drawing is more acute than is the rear wedge 28.

In actual practice, the front friction shell surfaces are tapered or relatively converged less than the rear shell friction surfaces. Furthermore, the normal space left between the wedge stem 34 and the boss 35 is preferably less than the space left between the rear wedge stem 38 and the boss 39 so as to give a longer preliminary spring action under draft than in buff.

In'operation, assuming an inward or bufiing movement of the drawbar, the first action will be the preliminary spring action until the boss 35 engages the stem 34. Thereafter, inward movement will be communicated to the wedge 27 and shoes 29 which will be resisted by the rear spring acting through the wedge 28 and shoes 30.

In a draft or outward movement of the Before the friction drawbar, the first resistance will be that of the rear spring until the boss 39 engages the rear stem 38. Thereafter forward movement will be communicated to the wedge 38 and shoes 30 which will be resisted by the front spring acting through the wedge 27 and shoes 29. By varying the taper of the front and rear sets of friction surfaces and by changing the wedge angles, different capacities may be obtained as will be understood by those skilled in the art.

It will be observed that my invention provides a strong spring resistance through the tandem arranged springs. and that a compound differential action is obtained in the friction shell through the arrangement of a blunter wedge at one end of the friction elements and a more acutewedge at the other end of the friction elements. and also through providing the friction shell with an internal friction face of a certain taper at one end, and of a different taper at the other end. 7

A connecting bolt 50 passes through the wedges and at its ends is counter-sunk in the wedge stems 34 and 38, respectively, allowance being made for sufficient play there in when the wedges approach each other.

I claim:

In a railway draft rigging. the combina tion with draft sills, front and rear stopacting means, and front and rear followers cooperable with said means, of a double ended friction shell located between said followers and stationary with respect to said sills, one end of said shell having friction surfaces arranged at one angle to the axis of the shell and the other end of the shell having friction surfaces arranged at a different angle to said axis, both sets of friction surfaces being inclined inwardly from the outer ends of the shell toward itscenter so that the interior of the shell has its minimum dimension intermediate the ends thereof, a set of friction elements cooperable with the friction surfaces at one end of said shell, another set of friction elements cooperable with the friction'surfaces of the other end of said shell, and spring means interposed between each follower and the WILLIAM H. MINER. 

